Methylphenidate dose vs amphetamine salts dose

8 posts in this topic

Are they comparable? I was on 20 mg amphetamine salts 3x a day and i was switched to 10 mg methylphenidate 3x a day. It does not seem as effective. Is 10 mg methylphenidate similar to 20 mg amphetamine salts or could my pdoc be starting out slow and ramping me up? Or is methylphenidate just not as good? Thanks!

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Amphetamine and Ritalin are reallly two different animals with different mechanisms of action. I found that my system was "driven" too much by amphetamine, but Ritalin is much gentler. However, I don't think Ritalin is doing much for me.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Actually there's a pretty strict equivalence. According to several books I've read and my personal experience, methylphenidate = 2(Amphetamine), so 15 mgs dexidrine is the same as 30 mgs methylphenidate. Where the difference lies is in how different sustained release formulatations dose them.

It was in one of the Hallowell and Ratey books.

You may still react better to one than the other though, and amphetamine tends to be a bit longer lasting so you'll need to take more doses per day of methylphenidate with more peaks and valleys between doses.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Actually there's a pretty strict equivalence. According to several books I've read and my personal experience, methylphenidate = 2(Amphetamine), so 15 mgs dexidrine is the same as 30 mgs methylphenidate. Where the difference lies is in how different sustained release formulatations dose them.

Faraone et. al. conducted a meta-analysis that seems to confirm this. They included two head-to-head comparisons of immediate-release methylphenidate and Adderall (see Table 1; studies by Manos and Pliszka). Both used the best dose as the target, and in both cases, the average dose for methylphenidate was about twice as much as the average dose for amphetamine. However, this could easily be because methylphenidate is typically dosed twice a day, while Adderall is typically only dosed once a day. If this is the case, the two drugs are mg-to-mg comparable in their IR forms. You will probably still need dose adjustments, so this is only a rough guideline. And as VE said, your brain may like one better than the other.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I'm far from an expert, but my GP just switched me from methylin 10 mg twice a day to Adderall (generic) 20 mg twice a day yesterday.

I took 1 Adderall 20 mg at 5:30 pm and it was too much, but at 11 pm I felt mellow. I was yawning and felt sure that I'd be able to sleep. Not so--at 1:30 am I was still trying to sleep. It was strange...I felt relaxed, but yet I could feel and hear my heart beating in my ears (a bit too fast, though not racing) and my legs were quite restless. It wasn't thoughts that were keeping me awake, but just physical stuff. I had often taken the methylin 10 mg at 5:30 pm and had no problem sleeping whatsoever.

I'm not sure why he increased the dose of Adderall compared to the methylin. I told him that the original Rx of methylin 20 mg was too much to take at 1 time (palpitations, urge to bite lip, etc...) but only lasted 3.5 hours so I started breaking the tab and eventually found 10 mg twice per day a comfortable dose. I switched to Adderall because the methylin did not help me prioritize, organize, or do other administrative type skills. It only really helped with impulsiveness and had a horrible crash exactly 3.5 hours after taking it that lasted about an hour and a half. I also felt flat, sad, and unable to smile on the methylin--even on the 10 mg per day. But, it was better than nothing as the impulsiveness, constant desire to crawl into bed, mental fog (as long as I wasn't switching tasks) were greatly improved.

When I was on the methylin, it seemed to last exactly the same amount of time no matter what the dose!!! So, I've only had 1 dose of the Adderall, but that dose lasted much longer than the same dose of methylin.

So far, anecdotally, it would seem that the Adderall lasts longer. I'm going to break it in half today and compare 10 mg Adderall to my experience with 10 mg of methylin and see how it goes.